Latif suggests “delay” in live match telecast to curb ’spot-fixing’ menace

KARACHI - Former Pakistan Test captain Rashid Latif, who resigned as the wicket-keeping coach of the National Cricket Academy after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) handed him a notice over his statement on spot-fixing, has suggested a delay in the live broadcast of matches to curb the menace of match-fixing.

“I guarantee that even a delay of 30 seconds in live telecast of matches will put an end to the spot-fixing,” the Daily Times quoted Latif, as saying.

The former wicket-keeper-batsman, who has joined the Afghanistan national team as its head coach, said that the ICC would have to convince its television partner ESPN-Star to delay the broadcast.

“The ICC will have to bear the loss as the media companies would possibly disagree with the idea, but I can guarantee spot-fixing will die with delayed telecast of matches,” he added.

Pointing out that the ICC had been “forcing the players to refrain from this practice (fixing) but actually the laws are providing the players with a window of opportunity,” he said that he had “suggested some changes in the law which can curb spot-fixing, like power plays in the one-day and Twenty20 matches should be finished.”

He also claimed that some national teams sidelined players who turned down offers from bookmakers. “Besides the fact that education of the players is important, the system also needs to be revamped,” noted the 41-year-old coach.

Spot-fixing is a betting scam in which a player agrees to play in a certain way at specified moments of the game by pre-arrangement with a bookmaker.

Latif blew the whistle on match-fixing among Pakistan’s national team in 1994 and testified against his fellow players in an inquiry four years later, which culminated in life bans on two players and fines on six more. (ANI)